Governor Jindal, Charles Krauthammer, and others have suggested changes that they believe will lead to GOP victories in the future. I have one too.

Stop the war on drugs. It has targeted black people and those in poverty, has made it harder for those convicted to find jobs once convicted of drug-related offenses, and has encouraged single-mother families without even a chance of receiving alimony.

The stereotype of a drug user is a black man. Here is some NYU information about the NYPD’s stop-and-frisks.

In 2003, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 160,851 times.

-- 140,442 were totally innocent (87%)

-- 77,704 were black (54%)

-- 44,581 were Latino (31%)

-- 17,623 were white (12%)

-- 83,499 were aged 14-24 (55%)

The number of stop-and-frisks increased. The attention to whites has decreased; the attention to minorities has increased. The accuracy has decreased.

In 2011, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 685,724 times.

-- 605,328 were totally innocent (88%)

-- 350,743 were black (53%)

-- 223,740 were Latino (34%)

-- 61,805 were white (9%)

-- 341,581 were aged 14-24 (51%)

Comparing these two years, we see that the profiling (guessing) about who should be stopped worsened from 13% correct to 12% correct. Blacks represented 54% of the stop-and-frisks before, down to 53% now. Latinos went up from 31% to 34%. Whites are being chosen for fewer, down from 12% to 9%.

The GOP would have a competitive advantage among the minority groups with a change in perspective on the war on drugs. The issue of legalization needs to stop being seen as the movement of drug addicts and college kids looking for a good time. It is a civil rights issue, and it is damaging our country. More and more people are being put on Prison Welfare. The prison population is heavily skewed against minorities. About 35% of the jailed and imprisoned population is black, even though they make up only about 12.5% of the entire population. And what do you know? The poverty rate for blacks is also 35%. The Democrats claim to be the party of the people because they want bigger government programs, but they are also throwing people into jail for drug crimes. This has been a bipartisan effort since the 1980s. What a chance to take the right side of the issue and play it for all it’s worth!

Conservatives should be able to get behind this, and the poor among us should also be able to support this wholeheartedly. Those who are concerned about the increase of those dependent on government handouts ought to consider what happens when a person is sent to prison for a drug ‘crime’. They are supported by taxpayer dollars, and it is much more expensive to support them in jail or prison than by just putting them on welfare. We should consider how much money we could save if we took them off government handouts — jail and prison handouts!